ANAHEIM : Mobile Home Park Near Arena to Close

The owners of a 23-acre mobile home park next door to Anaheim Arena have told their tenants that they will close the park by October and may pave it for a parking lot.

Tenants of the Orange Tree Mobile Home Park are being asked by Campanula Properties Inc. to sign an agreement saying they will not fight the closure and will leave by Oct. 15. In return, the company is offering to waive up to $5,000 in rent, which would cover about six to eight months.

The 236-space park is north of the arena and next to its main parking lot, which overflows during most large events at the sport complex. An arena spokesman said the facility is not negotiating with Campanula and any lot it builds would be a private enterprise.

John Stanaland, Campanula’s president, said the company plans “to issue a formal notice (confirming the closure) within the next few days.” He cited the 25-year-old park’s deteriorating condition, its escalating vacancy rate and traffic problems with the arena as reasons for the closure.

Stanaland said that converting the park to a private parking lot serving the arena is the most obvious solution, but other possibilities that he declined to name are being considered.

Ed Leion, president of the tenants association, said most tenants are not as upset about the closure as they are the way it is being handled. He said they believe they are being intimidated into signing the agreement, which gives them too little money and contains several clauses concerning control of their property that make them uncomfortable.

“The problem is people don’t trust (Stanaland’s) actions,” Leion said.

Leion also said that most tenants are not bothered by the traffic and added that the park had begun deteriorating only recently, after Campanula stopped making repairs, which made the vacancy rate go up.

The biggest conflict between Stanaland and his tenants is over how much they should receive for moving. Under Anaheim’s mobile home ordinance, if Campanula shuts the park, it must pay the tenants the average cost of moving their mobile homes to another park within 125 miles. Stanaland says the average of three estimates Campanula has received is $5,000.

But Leion says the tenants association has received two estimates that average about $10,000.

“Some people are going to move by U-Haul, some will want better choices,” Leion said. “But Stanaland ought to provide for our out-of-pocket costs. This is not a voluntary move on our part. This is a forced move.”